Yasai Japanese Grill ($10.46) Rating: 7

Mark Lim - After stuffing myself all week with a barrage of microwaved fast food meat I decided to treat myself to some Japanese food. The problem with being Single (SingleHell.com) is that it's pretty depressing to eat in a restaurant by yourself. I had to settle for Japanese take-0ut.


Up the street from my apartment there's a very clean tiny restaurant called Yasai - Japanese Grill. (Yasai = Vegetable in Japanese) My parents taught me that the first rule of Asian dining is that If there are no Asians in the restaurant it's probably a bad sign.

There are no Asians that eat at Yasai, ever. The cashier and the waitress are Asian but the cooks inside are all Mexican. I peeked in the back just because I was curious.

I ordered the Chicken and Tempura combo. It comes with Teriyaki Chicken, 6 pieces of assorted Tempura, a Veggie Kabob, Rice, Salad, 4 California rolls, and a drink. It's a lot of food.

I worked all day and was excited to get home and gorge. I changed into my eating clothes (the ones with all the stains and torn sleeves for faster eating) and was surprised to find that they gave me the wrong meal. It was some beef bowl crap and I was pissed.

I changed again and drove back to the restaurant furious. As I walked in one waiter hid in the back and the other one gasped and ran for my correct order. I grabbed it and left without saying a word. I probably should have been nicer but hunger does crazy things to your brain.

Close up of the kabob and some tempura

The salad is actually really good. I don't normally eat salad since I'm a meatatarian but I like this one.


I like Yasai. They've found a way to Americanize all the food and made the place easy to franchise. It could be the Japanese McDonalds. Good place but next time I'm making sure I check my order before I leave.

Rating: 7 out of 10